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© St. Petersburg Times, published October 29, 2001
Rich man, richer man
TheyRule.OrGo.org/
There's an adage that suggests the bulk of the wealth in the country, if not the globe, is handled by a tiny sliver of the population. It's just the sort of thing to get Leonard Cohen going on some kind of Everybody Knows cheery ramble. If you prefer your information in whizzy graphic format, TheyRule is easy on the eyes. Its Macromedia Flash interface requires a lot of mousing around to find out what's clickable, but the result is great. The information that's linked or is embedded on the site gives you the skinny on the United States' richest, most powerful people and how many connect to each other.
PocketPcPassion.com/iPAQ/H3800/H3800_photos.htm
Compaq doesn't seem to be resting in the pocket-size PC area and continues to focus on taking the crown away from market leader Palm. Here are some sneak preview pictures of a whizzy new iPaq, Compaq's personal digital assistant. I think my favorite shot has to be of the "ruggedized sleeve," which really stretches the pocket part of the name to marsupial proportions. I really liked the iPaq, but since Windows isn't my primary day-to-day operating system, it had to go.
AliceBot.org/alice/about.html
The Turing Test, named by math whiz Alan Turing, suggests that a machine can be deemed intelligent if a human can't tell the difference between a conversation with said machine and another human. There's a bit more to it, but it'll bore the pants off you if I bother to explain in full, gory detail. On to the point: Alice, the computer program sitting on the other side of the Web address above, is about as close as I've seen to real computer smarts. It does a fabulous job of analyzing typed English text and responds to all kinds of questions almost perfectly. It will readily admit that it's software and will even talk about the development process. It's fun if you're suffering from insomnia.
KeepKidsHealthy.com
Keeping healthy is one of those things that ought to be drummed into ultra-receptive youths as soon as they're old enough to know broccoli from biscuits. Ah, so much for idealism. Having grown up on a diet of deep-fried, chocolate-covered, caffeinated hot dogs, I've had my own share of problems coming to grips with tofu and asparagus. Imagine how different my arteries would be if my parents were suddenly enlightened by a site such as this. In all seriousness, it's a great resource for anybody with youngsters.
www.PBZone.com/tenyear.shtml
Apart from the occasional model catching on fire, the PowerBook has been a roaring success for Apple. The first one I was able to afford was the venerable 170c and it took a fearsome bashing while living in various briefcases. Here's a short interview with Bruce Gee, a former product manager at Apple, that you'll enjoy. It discusses PowerBooks past, present and future.